IrishHolger's 999 list

OK, been eyeing this group up for the last couple of days and am now going to take the plunge and face the challenge. I doubt, though, that I'll manage to reach the goal as generally don't make 50 books, let alone 81 (or 72). But either way it'll give me a focus to reduce all those piles of books that cluttering around my house. It'll probably also give me an official excuse to buy some books for each category. ;-)

The categories will (very likely, subject to possible change) be:

1. ACD/Sherlock Holmes
2. 1001 Books
3. James Bond/Ian Fleming
4. Pulp Fiction
5. Magick
6. Whodunnit
7. Casanova
8. Books about Film
9. Let’s wrap it up

Arthur Conan Doyle/Sherlock Holmes

Been reading and re-reading the Sherlock Holmes canon for years and I am a great fan of Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes in all shapes or forms. So this will focus on anything written by and about Doyle, Holmesian pastiches and books about the books and films.

1. Sam Benady: Sherlock Holmes in Gibraltar
2. Adrian Conan Doyle: The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes
3. A. Mitchelson, N. Utechin: Die Erdbebenmaschine
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9.

1001 Books

I just checked and noticed that I have so far read 108 of the 1001 books to read before you die. That's better than I thought I'd be, but still a long way to go, so let's see if I can add at least another 9 to that list

1. Fables of Aesop
2. Bret Easton Ellis: American Psycho
3. Henry James: Turn of the Screw
4. Hermann Hesse: Siddhartha
5. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The Yellow Wallpaper
6. Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights
7.
8.
9.

I'm curious about your last category. What sort of books qualify for the 'Wrap it Up' category? Good luck with your challenge. Hopefully, we'll all encourage each other to keep reading and finish. Have you had a look at Lunar's challenge - it's the one with unlimited overlaps? I like the concept and whilst I hope to read 72 books, it's worth keeping in mind.

Edited for typos

James Bond/Ian Fleming

Well, I have already read all of Fleming's original Bond novels, but I still have a number of other non-Fleming Bonds lying around as well as books about Bond or Fleming and Fleming's non-Bond books.

1. John Gardner: Role of Honour
2. Martijn Mulder: On the Tracks of 007 (8)
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9.

Pulp Fiction

Great fan of all kinds of pulp fiction, especially some of those wonderfully trashy paperbacks from the 1970s. I also always wanted to explore the weird and wonderful violent action series called.... The Penetrator. No kidding. They sure don't make'em like they used to. Other books I may read are some more of Leslie Charteris The Saint books or Edgar Wallace.

1. Leslie Charteris: The Saint and Mr Teal
2. Lionel Derrick: The Target is H (The Penetrator)
3. Nick Carter: The Death Strain
4. Peter McCurtin: The Assassin#1 Manhattan Massacre
5. Edgar Wallace: Again the Three
6. Edgar Wallace: The Ringer
7. Mark Dixon: Blood Cult
8. George Revelli: Amanda's Castle
9. Edgar Wallace: Again the Ringer

Looks like this is a category I am reading more than enough of. Even more than the 9 books target:

10: Nick Carter: The Terrible Ones
11: Don Pendleton: Assault on Rome
12: Guy N. Smith: The Wood
13: Bradley Mengel: Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction
14: Don Pendleton: Thermal Thursday
15: Wade Barker: Ninja Master #5 Black Magician
16: Don Pendleton: Dead Man Running
17: Lionel Derrick: Tokyo Purple (The Penetrator 6)

Magick

I noticed that I have a number of books lying around dedicated to all kinds of Magic, biographies and autobiographies of people like Aleister Crowley or Houdini, How-to books and novels by Dennis Wheatley.

1. Anton Szandor LaVey: The Satanic Bible
2. Thorsten Havener: Ich weiss, was du denkst
3. Martin Booth: A Magick Life
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9.

Whodunnit

Well, what can I say? I do have to finally come around to finishing off all those Inspectore Morse novels, and those cheap Agatha Christie mysteries that I keep picking up from the second hand stores and all those other mystery books that I often just buy for the cover alone.

1. Agatha Christie: Poirot Investigates
2. Agatha Christie: The Big Four
3. Marek Krajewski: Der Kalenderblattmörder
4. Dashiell Hammett: The Dain Curse
5. Lee Child: The Visitor
6. Kinky Friedman: Frequent Flyer
7. PD James: The Murder Room
8. Peter Cheyney: Never a Dull Moment
9. Colin Dexter: Service of all the Dead

Casanova

When I was in my teens I once read through 6 of Casanova's 12 books of memoirs, was absolutely amazed at his life, but somehow never finished off the run. 2 or 3 years ago I re-read the first two books and now want to make some more headway into them. I also have one or two books about him stashed away, written by others.

1.
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Books about Film

The title says it all: Books about Film. 'Nuff said.

1. Jamie Russell: Book of the Dead
2. Shane Briant: Worst Nightmares
3. Andreas Neumann: Sir John jagt den Hexer
4. Martijn Mulder: On the Tracks of 007 (3)
5. Robert Sellers: Hellraisers
6. Bryan Senn: A Year of Fear (9)
7. Marcus Hearn: Hammer Glamour
8. F.X. Feeney: Roman Polanski
9. Patrick Galloway: Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves: The Samurai Film Handbook

Let's wrap it up

The mystery category. It's actually quite simple. I have an awful habit of starting books that I never finish even though I want to. Some of those are reference books and non-fiction that don't necessarily need to be read in one go. But then again there is also always Joyce's Ulysses. Earlier this year I started tracking the number of books that I have yet to finish and was in utter shock when I noticed that it was in the 30s. I have since reduced this to "just" 28, but definitely need to bring this list a few steps closer to Zero in the New Year.

1. Helmut Pfleger/Eugen Kurz/Gerd Treppner: Schach Zug um Zug
2. Bob Glover: The Runner's Handbook
3. Bryan Senn: A Year of Fear (8)
4. Patricia Schultz: 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler's Life List
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

When I was a teen I adored Denis Wheatly stories of Black Magic.

Well, I previously read one or two non-Black Magic books by Wheatley and wasn't too impressed, but I have his Black Magic books lying around and heard that they are actually quite good, so am indeed looking forward to tackling those.

Bret Easton Ellis: American Psycho
I found this to be seriously outdated with its constant onslaught of
already ancient brand names and products that are no longer around,
highly repetitive in its format and probably about 200 pages too long.
When I noticed that the book never really went anywhere plotwise I
just knew that it will have a non-ending ending.

I starred you so I could follow your Casanova category.

Last year I bought History of My Life by the man himself after learning I'd be receiving Casanova: Actor Lover Priest Spy by Ian Kelly as an Early Reviewer title (reading it now). I also decided I couldn't pass up a remaindered copy of Casanova in Bolzano, especially since I enjoyed Marai's Embers -- his books have some gorgeous covers.

So my free book has been fairly costly so far....

Haha, I better soon be reading those Casanova books soon so. :-)

Other books

Looks like I very easily stray from my 999 list, so here are the books I've been reading outside this challenge.

1. Brian O'Connor: Add a Zero
2. Bill Schelly: Man of Rock: A Biography of Joe Kubert
3. E. Paul Zehr: Becoming Batman
4. Felix Dennis: How to Get Rich
5. Philip Nolan: Ryanland
6. Peter Neville: Traveller's History of Ireland
7. David Shenk: The Immortal Game
8. Malcolm Gladwell: Outliers
9. James Patterson: Cross
10. Nassim Nicholas Taleb: The Black Swan
11. Conor Woodman: The Adventure Capitalist
12: Arturo Perez Reverte: Die Reinheit des Blutes
13: Ira Levin: The Boys from Brazil

Can't believe it took me a full three months before I tackled a Holmesian book this year. That category was one of the main reasons I joined the challenge, so this is pretty poorand so it is just as well that I discovered Sam Benady's Sherlock Holmes in Gibraltar by chance while visiting Gibraltar on a day trip. This collection of two short stories connecting Holmes with The Rock and the Mystery of the Mary Celeste was quite a rare - though at £2.95 also very affordable - find for my Holmes collection (that I have yet to properly track through Librarything).

Just noticed that in the month of March I had managed to read nine books which is a staggering amount for me. I have so far read 19 books this year which is a record amount for just three months of reading. Looks like redundancy definitely has its good aspects. ;-)

Not sure if I will manage the 999 challenge, but at that speed I should definitely be able to finish the 50 Book challenge, something I always just feel short of in previous years.

I really like your categories. In reading one of your posts, I had to respond if for no other reason than for the fact that it would probably make you feel better. In trying to choose categories for this challenge, I thought I'd check my home library and see exactly how many unfinished books I had. Foolishly, I though it was 3 or 4. I was amused, then shocked, then horrified to find that I have...deep breath...65! I know! I never considered myself to be the kind of person that would leave books unread, let alone such a huge number. Guess I was very very wrong.

Needless to say, I do have an Unfinished Business category, though I'm not making much progress there. Or anywhere else, really, for that matter. Working, sleeping, and Netflix seem to be getting in the way of my reading time.

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, that unfinished mountain is incredible, isn't it. Unread books are bad enough, but uinfinished? I never had a whole lot before, but over the last couple of years must have developed a severe case of ADD. LOL

If there's one thing I don't like about my categories anymore it is that some are too similar in its focus, but what the heck, I can change that for the 101010 challenge. ;-)

I may have slightly cheated when I put Shane Briant's book WORST NIGHTMARES into the Books about Film category as this is a novel. But it is written by a former Cult Movie Actor, so that's my excuse. Book will only be released in May, but I managed to get an advance reviewers copy and should also be able to get an interview with Briant for my Hammer Films blog. Fingers crossed.

Anton Szandor LaVey: The Satanic Bible

When I saw this book in a second hand book store I bought it thinking I could have a laugh, but was then amazed how much practical common sense is in it. In actual fact if this book is one thing, then it is the precursor of all those self help books that are now stocked up in every bookstore. When you read paragraphs about psychic vampires, visualisation etc it appears as if all those self help advocates just ripped from this work. Now there's a thought!

Philip Nolan: Ryanland

It's been ages since I last had so many giggle fits reading a book. My girlfriend thought me mad. Now she reads this and can't stop giggling like a lunatic herself. The story of a man who decides to fly every single Ryan Air route there is and on its way visits a lot of famous and not so famous places on his track through the new Europe. Very poignant and entertaining.

My review for Shane Briant's Worst Nightmares is now up on my blog: http://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2009/05/review-shane-briants-worst-nightmare...

So I finished my first category: the Pulps. Little wonder as they are generally quick and easy reads. I still have tons more of them left lying around, so have a feeling I will overachieve here.

Apart from that: 7 months left before the end of the year, 7 categories left. Will I pass the challenge? Could be a tough one. The 1001 books category seems to be the next I may be able to crack, though as a general rule those books have often left me severely underimpressed.

Congrats on finishing a category! I have yet to finish one so you have my kudos.

I've read several Holmes stories this year. I got Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Space from the library. It's a collection of short stories about Holmes with a science fiction twist. Some of the stories were really good, some not so much. But it was fun.

Then I found Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra at the library. I didn't like this one as much, but it was kind of fun. It was by Alan Vanneman. There are several with a variation of this title. I even have another one which is on my list, called The Giant Rat of Sumatra, by Richard Boyer. Then I have A Three Pipe Problem which is about an actor playing Holmes who get caught up in solving a mystery.

Anyway, I'll be interested to see what you read in this category and what you think of them.

Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Space is fab!!! I read it a few years ago when it first came out. I think I have at one stage also read the Giant Rat pastiche you mentioned.

I used to read tons of Holmesian and Doylean material, but lately only seem to buy those books and not read them. Must have overindulged at one stage. ;-)

I think there are at least a dozen or more books lying around in that category that I need to tackle. Hopefully your post will be the deciding factor for me to get up and face that mountain. ;-)

So I got my first double dip: Martijn Mulder's On the Tracks of 007, a book that is not only about James Bond, but also about films (and about travel).

Films, Travel and 007 are some of my favourite pastimes so seeing this all combined in one publication made the purchase a no-brainer. This book is an in depth travel guide to all the various locations visited in nearly 5 decades of Bond movies. At one stage I had even toyed with the idea of approaching that kind of travelogue myself, that's how urgently I wanted this kind of book! It may be a small niche, but it's my kinda niche.

Eventually I hope I won't need to double dip too much to cover all my categories, but for the time being will have no shame about it so to see them filling up a bit faster. Any double dip will be indicated by a number in brackets, so (8) means that this will also count towards my 8th category, the books about film.

Robert Sellers: Hellraisers

An intriguing concept... reading about the hellraising times of four of the screens best known boozers: Peter O'Toole, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris and Richard Burton. Trouble is that after a while reading up about this endless stream of drunken fights and broken furniture, it becomes quite monotonous and as repetitive as a drunkard's stories. All four men had talent to burn and very interesting lifes and if there's one thing this book can be accused off is to make them sound quite boring after a while.

Martin Booth: A Magick Life

Utterly fascinating biography of an utterly fascinating character. Having previously stopped reading Crowley's own "autohagiography" midway through as I couldn't handle his vain, pompous prose, it's good to be able to read a more rounded biography of a man often far ahead of his time. Now I think I may even end up finishing Crowley's own book after all.

At last! Finished another category: The Whodunnits. About time. I should be able to finish the Cinema Books as well before the end of the year. Apart from that I may add another few books here or there, but not sure if I can make it four full categories. We shall see.....

When you ask me which books I think you have to read before you Day, I think at the important books of the religions around at you. And then I can give a short list about this books.

1. The Coran

2. The Bible
3. The Talmud
4. The Satanic Bible

5. A book from your Idol.

And then try to life at one ore more oft that books. And than you can die in Fredom.

With Patrick Galloway's Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves: The Samurai Film Handbook I now also concluded the Books on Film section, so have 3 finished categories for the year.

If I want to finish at least one more category before the year is over I better aim for the 1001 books where there are only three entries missing. Guess I better be looking for three thin books on that list.

Galloway's book may have been a little bit too heavy on plot synopses of the movies, but is nevertheless a good introduction into the Samurai film genre and also provides good historical overviews to the background of those movies.

Patricia Schultz: 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler's Life List

The one that started it all. Yes, right now there are scores about books around that list just about any place, train journey, island, golf course, late night diner you have to see before you die, but this is the mother of it all and as such has my full respects even though some of the books that followed it have actually done a better job. This is a very handy compilation of places to visit. So when you're going somewhere just for a day or two there really is little need to purchase yet another guide book, but just have a quick look into this book for some inspiration and then follow your instincts for the rest of the time.
Yes, list books are by its very nature subjective, so I am not going to argue as to what else should have been included, but I do feel that the emphasis here is far too much on hotel and restaurant experience.
Still a great book to have around.